Brazilians Elect Actual Clown to Congress

Brazilian congressional candidate Francisco Everardo Oliveira Silva won 1.3 million votes in the country's Sunday elections—twice as many as the second-place finisher. It may be because he is also a clown named Tiririca ("Grumpy") with amazing campaign ads.

Tiririca, a former circus worker, clown, and popular television personality, campaigned on the slogan "It can't get any worse." In the ad above, he asks people to vote for him so he can help "the needy," like his family, and then says, "If you don't vote for me, I'll die!"

In this ad, he asks, "What does a federal representative do? Honestly, I don't know, but if I'm elected, I'll tell you":

Tiririca's victory is being interpreted as a protest against a congress seen as corrupt and scandal-ridden, though, who knows, maybe Brazilians want to know what federal representatives do. But he may not even make it: Tiririca is rumored to be illiterate, and since congresspeople are required to know how to read and write, he may be forced to prove his own literacy.

Meanwhile, up here, a candidate for Senate just released an ad clarifying that she is not a witch.